Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “Image Plate”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 109 records · Page 6

Effect of tilt on circular zone plate performance

Fresnel zone plates are frequently used as focusing and imaging optics in x-ray microscopy, as they provide the ease of use of normal incidence optics. We consider here the effects of tilt misalignment on their optical performance, both in the thin optics limit and in the case of zone plates that are sufficiently thick so that volume diffraction effects come into play. Using multislice propagation, we show that simple analytical models describe the tilt sensitivity of thin zone plates and the thickness at which volume diffraction must be considered, and examine numerically the performance of example zone plates for soft x-ray focusing at 0.5 keV and hard x-ray focusing at 10 keV.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

Fatigue-Crack Detection and Monitoring through the Scattered-Wave Two-Dimensional Cross-Correlation Imaging Method Using Piezoelectric Transducers

Piezoelectric transducers are convenient enablers for generating and receiving Lamb waves for damage detection. Fatigue cracks are one of the most common causes for the failure of metallic structures. Increasing emphasis on the integrity of critical structures creates an urgent need to monitor structures and to detect cracks at an early stage to prevent catastrophic failures. This paper presents a two-dimensional (2D) cross-correlation imaging technique that can not only detect a fatigue crack but can also precisely image the fatigue cracks in metallic structures. The imaging method was based on the cross-correlation algorithm that uses incident waves and the crack-scattered waves of all directions to generate the crack image. Fatigue testing for crack generation was then conducted in both an aluminum plate and a stainless-steel plate. Piezoelectric wafer transducer was used to actuate the interrogating Lamb wave. To obtain the scattered waves as well as the incident waves, a scanning laser Doppler vibrometer was adopted for acquiring time-space multidimensional wavefield, followed with frequency-wavenumber processing. The proof-of-concept study was conducted in an aluminum plate with a hairline fatigue crack. A frequency-wavenumber filtering method was used to obtain the incident wave and the scattered wave wavefields for the cross-correlation imaging. After this, the imaging method was applied to evaluate cracks on a stainless-steel plate generated during fatigue loading tests. The presented imaging method showed successful inspection and quantification results of the crack and its growth.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Improving radiograph analysis throughput through transfer learning and object detection

SIGN Fracture Care International partners with surgeons in low-resource hospitals worldwide to provide access to effective orthopedic care by donating educational materials and innovatively designed surgical implants. Over two decades, SIGN’s Online Surgical Database (SOSD) has grown to contain over 500,000 medical images, with radiographs holding the majority share. One challenge in working with hospitals worldwide is that both the radiographs uploaded to the SOSD and the data entry accompanying the uploads vary in quality. To improve the accuracy of data in the SOSD, we trained a model to detect surgical implants in radiographs. We first developed a tool to automatically detect radiographs, then trained an object detection model to determine the number and placement of surgical implants visible in the radiograph. Active learning was used to generate a training set containing 2,510 radiographs with screws, nails, and plates labeled by bounding boxes. Training a model to simultaneously recognize all three classes of implants gave a low average precision (AP) for the plate class, likely due to the low number of plate instances in our training set and the large variety of surgical plates used by SIGN-partnered surgeons. Applying standard image augmentation techniques to increase the plate count in our training set did not appreciably increase the AP of plate detection. To improve plate detection, we redrew the bounding boxes to account for correlations between the screw and plate classes. Training one model to detect nails and screws and a separate model to detect plates increased the AP of plate detection by 78.8 percentage points. The AP of each class was 80.7% for screws, 93.6% for nails, and 92.6% for plates; meanwhile, the sensitivity was 92% for screws, 86% for nails, and 81% for plates. We show that object detection methods can be used to detect surgical implants in radiographs of varying quality; however, the detection ability is dependent on the type of implant, and some implants, in our case plates, must be treated differently than others. Such tools can improve the throughput of radiograph analysis, assisting physicians and surgeons with the treatment of bone fractures.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

Machine Learning-Enabled Quantitative Analysis of Optically Obscure Scratches on Nickel-Plated Additively Manufactured (AM) Samples

Additively manufactured metal components often have rough and uneven surfaces, necessitating post-processing and surface polishing. Hardness is a critical characteristic that affects overall component properties, including wear. This study employed K-means unsupervised machine learning to explore the relationship between the relative surface hardness and scratch width of electroless nickel plating on additively manufactured composite components. The Taguchi design of experiment (TDOE) L9 orthogonal array facilitated experimentation with various factors and levels. Initially, a digital light microscope was used for 3D surface mapping and scratch width quantification. However, the microscope struggled with the reflections from the shiny Ni-plating and scatter from small scratches. To overcome this, a scanning electron microscope (SEM) generated grayscale images and 3D height maps of the scratched Ni-plating, thus enabling the precise characterization of scratch widths. Optical identification of the scratch regions and quantification were accomplished using Python code with a K-means machine-learning clustering algorithm. The TDOE yielded distinct Ni-plating hardness levels for the nine samples, while an increased scratch force showed a non-linear impact on scratch widths. The enhanced surface quality resulting from Ni coatings will have significant implications in various industrial applications, and it will play a pivotal role in future metal and alloy surface engineering.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

High-resolution x-ray radiography with Fresnel zone plates on the University of Rochester’s OMEGA Laser Systems

Experiments performed at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics with a continuous-wave (cw) x-ray source and on the OMEGA and OMEGA EP Laser Systems have utilized a Fresnel zone plate (FZP) to obtain x-ray images with a spatial resolution as small as ~1.5 μm. Such FZP images were obtained with a charge-coupled device or a framing camera at energies ranging from 4.5 keV to 6.7 keV using x-ray line emission from both the cw source and high-intensity, laser-beam–illuminated metal foils. In all cases, the resolution test results are determined from patterns and grids backlit by these sources. Here, the resolutions obtained are shown to be due to a combination of the spectral content of the x-ray sources and detector resolution limited by the magnification of the images (14× to 22×). High-speed framing cameras were used to obtain FZP images with frame times as short as ~30 ps. Double-shell implosions on OMEGA were backlit by laser-irradiated Fe foils, thus obtaining a framing-camera–limited, FZP-image resolution of ~3 μm–4 μm.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

Path-Integrated X-Ray Digital Image Correlation using Synthetic Reference Images

X-rays can provide images when an object is visibly obstructed, allowing for motion measurements via x-ray digital image correlation (DIC). However, x-ray images are path-integrated and contain data for all objects between the source and detector. If multiple objects are present in the x-ray path, conventional DIC algorithms may fail to correlate the x-ray images. A new DIC algorithm called path-integrated (PI)-DIC addresses this issue by reformulating the matching criterion for DIC to account for multiple, independently-moving objects. PI-DIC requires a set of reference x-ray images of each independent object. However, due to experimental constraints, such reference images might not be obtainable from the experiment. Here, this work focuses on the reliability of synthetically-generated reference images, in such cases. A simplified exemplar is used for demonstration purposes, consisting of two aluminum plates with tantalum x-ray DIC patterns undergoing independent rigid translations. Synthetic reference images based on the “as-designed” DIC patterns were generated. However, PI-DIC with the synthetic images suffered some biases due to manufacturing defects of the patterns. A systematic study of seven identified defect types found that an incorrect feature diameter was the most influential defect. Synthetic images were re-generated with the corrected feature diameter, and PI-DIC errors were improved by a factor of 3-4. Final biases ranged from 0.00-0.04 px, and standard uncertainties ranged from 0.06-0.11 px. In conclusion, PI-DIC accurately measured the independent displacement of two plates from a single series of path-integrated x-ray images using synthetically-generated reference images, and the methods and conclusions derived here can be extended to more generalized cases involving stereo PI-DIC for arbitrary specimen geometry and motion. This work thus extends the application space of x-ray imaging for full-field DIC measurements of multiple surfaces or objects in extreme environments where optical DIC is not possible.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Multiscale dynamics of charging and plating in graphite electrodes coupling operando microscopy and phase-field modelling

The phase separation dynamics in graphitic anodes significantly affects lithium plating propensity, which is the major degradation mechanism that impairs the safety and fast charge capabilities of automotive lithium-ion batteries. In this study, we present comprehensive investigation employing operando high-resolution optical microscopy combined with non-equilibrium thermodynamics implemented in a multi-dimensional (1D+1D to 3D) phase-field modeling framework to reveal the rate-dependent spatial dynamics of phase separation and plating in graphite electrodes. Here we visualize and provide mechanistic understanding of the multistage phase separation, plating, inter/intra-particle lithium exchange and plated lithium back-intercalation phenomena. A strong dependence of intra-particle lithiation heterogeneity on the particle size, shape, orientation, surface condition and C-rate at the particle level is observed, which leads to early onset of plating spatially resolved by a 3D image-based phase-field model. Moreover, we highlight the distinct relaxation processes at different state-of-charges (SOCs), wherein thermodynamically unstable graphite particles undergo a drastic intra-particle lithium redistribution and inter-particle lithium exchange at intermediate SOCs, whereas the electrode equilibrates much slower at low and high SOCs. These physics-based insights into the distinct SOC-dependent relaxation efficiency provide new perspective towards developing advanced fast charge protocols to suppress plating and shorten the constant voltage regime.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

Micro X-ray computed tomography examination of mini plate fuel with hot isostatic pressed aluminum cladding

In order to minimize proliferation risks and improve security of nuclear material, the United States high performance research and test reactors (USHPRR) program is tasked with converting nuclear reactors that are fueled with highly enriched uranium (HEU) fuels to operate with low-enriched uranium (LEU) nuclear fuels. One favorable LEU fuel configuration is plate fuel with a metallic uranium-molybdenum foil clad within an aluminum alloy (AA 6061). In this fuel, the aluminum cladding is bonded with a hot isostatic pressing (HIP) method to seal the cladding around the fuel meat. However, the HIP process parameters influence the cladding performance, as a defective or incomplete bond can cause a pathway for corrosion. Micro X-ray computed tomography (XCT), a nondestructive technique that provides volumetric imaging, can be applied to inspect fuel plate cladding at the engineering scale. In this work, XCT methodology was developed and successfully utilized to not only observe the bond line of unirradiated mini fuel plates, but to also identify subsurface abnormalities in the plates’ cladding. Importantly, in future work, this technique could be applied to fuel plates, pre- and post-irradiation, to quantify irradiation effects on cladding defects and bond line integrity.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Compact single-shot soft X-ray photon spectrometer for free-electron laser diagnostics

The photon spectrum from free-electron laser (FEL) light sources offers valuable information in time-resolved experiments and machine optimization in the spectral and temporal domains. We have developed a compact single-shot photon spectrometer to diagnose soft X-ray spectra. The spectrometer consists of an array of off-axis Fresnel zone plates (FZP) that act as transmission-imaging gratings, a Ce:YAG scintillator, and a microscope objective to image the scintillation target onto a two-dimensional imaging detector. This spectrometer operates in segmented energy ranges which covers tens of electronvolts for each absorption edge associated with several atomic constituents: carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and neon. The spectrometer’s performance is demonstrated at a repetition rate of 120 Hz, but our detection scheme can be easily extended to 200 kHz spectral collection by employing a fast complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) line-scan camera to detect the light from the scintillator. This compact photon spectrometer provides an opportunity for monitoring the spectrum downstream of an endstation in a limited space environment with sub-electronvolt energy resolution.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

High Yield Xray Imager Final Design Review

The High Yield Xray Imager (HYXI) is a new NIF target diagnostic system currently under development. The goal of HYXI is to provide high-fidelity, high temporal resolution x-ray imaging capability on high yield NIF implosions at 10MJ and above. The HYXI instrument design concept is based on the combination of two technologies that have been successfully utilized at the NIF on previous instruments, electron pulse-dilation and hybrid-CMOS sensor imaging. The combination of these two techniques will give HYXI sufficient data quality to ascertain differences in hot spot formation dynamics between high and low yield implosions. This information will highlight the critical hot spot conditions needed for ignition and burn. The HYXI design leverages the successful operation of the PDIXI x-ray imager at the NIF on multi MJ yield shots. A new radiation tolerant CMOS imaging array (HYPERION) is being developed to eliminate the significant background noise which limits the data quality of PDIXI. We successfully placed the contract with Advanced hCMOS Systems (AHS) to develop the HYPERION sensor, which fulfils our criteria to place long lead time item procurements by end of FY24. The HYXI Final Design Review was completed at the end of Q4 FY24 (Sep 24 th and Sep 30 th ). The HYXI project is a multi-year effort with a phased approach to be bring up system functionality over time in parallel with the development and fabrication effort of the HYPERION CMOS imaging array. In Phase 1, time-integrated x-ray images on NIF DT experiments will be collected starting in Q3 FY25. In Phase 2 of the project, time-resolved imaging with HYXI utilizing a spare microchannel plate detector back-end will begin in Q3 FY26. Phase 3 concludes the project with the installation of the HYPERION sensor array and the final performance qualification of the HYXI instrument which is scheduled for Q3 FY27 as discussed in the PDR and MRT report on this project in FY23.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Mesoscale shock structure in particulate composites

Multiscale experiments in heterogeneous materials and the knowledge of their physics under shock compression are limited. Here, this study examines the multiscale shock response of particulate composites comprised of soda-lime glass particles in a PMMA matrix using full-field high speed digital image correlation (DIC) for the first time. Normal plate impact experiments, and complementary numerical simulations, are conducted at stresses ranging from 1.1 - 3.1 GPa to elucidate the mesoscale mechanisms responsible for the distinct shock structure observed in particulate composites. The particle velocity from the macroscopic measurement at continuum scale shows a relatively smooth velocity profile, with shock thickness decreasing with an increase in shock stress, and the composite exhibits strain rate scaling as the second power of the shock stress. In contrast, the mesoscopic response was highly heterogeneous, which led to a rough shock front and the formation of a train of weak shocks traveling at different velocities. Additionally, the normal shock was seen to diffuse the momentum in the transverse direction, affecting the shock rise and the rounding-off observed at the continuum scale measurements. The numerical simulations indicate that the reflections at the interfaces, wave scattering, and interference of these reflected waves are the primary mechanisms for the observed rough shock fronts.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Flow visualization in high-energy-density laboratory plasmas

Flow visualization is often essential for evaluating high-energy-density (HED) laboratory plasmas, examining their dynamics, and assessing design strategies. However, imaging at fine phenomenological flow scales is a major challenge. Here, a zone-plate–based radiography system tailored for applications in HED physics is demonstrated. The burst-mode radiography system combines a dual-flash laser-generated x-ray source, a high-magnification zone plate optic, and a multiple frame hybrid complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (hCMOS) sensor for image detection. Operating at a magnification of 42 x⁠, a pair of radiographs is measured in rapid succession, each time gated by a 4.75 keV flash of x rays lasting 100 ps. The system achieves a spatial resolution below 3 μm. The potential of this approach for applications in HED physics is exemplified by observing small-scale spike morphologies at a pusher-foam interface impacted by a strong, laser-driven blast wave.

Flow instabilities↗

Generalizable Image Segmentation for Microstructure Characterization Through Integrated SEM and EBSD Analysis

We demonstrate generalizable semantic segmentation using minimal ground truth data. Correlated scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) measurements of frictionstir processed 316L stainless steel plates were used to train deep learning models for grain boundary segmentation. Secondary electron (SE) imaging taken at an accelerating voltage of 10 keV correlated to EBSD-derived grain boundaries produced the best performing model. Notably, an ensemble of three models trained on a single SE image produced accurate segmentation over a series of BSE images of samples manufactured under different processing parameters, with a resultant mean absolute error in grain size of 0.34 µm. The striking generalizability of the models likely results from the similar escape depths of the SE training input and the EBSD training output and the reduced probability of dislocation artifacts appearing in the image. This finding highlights the importance of considering the physical principles behind imaging in the development of robust segmentation models for microstructure characterization.

Taufique, Mohammad Fuad Nur↗

Profile Images and Annotations for Vehicle Re-identification Algorithms (PRIMAVERA)

This dataset contains 636,246 profile images of vehicles representing 13,963 unique vehicles. The data was collected by a set of roadside sensors over the course of three years. Each time a vehicle passed by one of the sensors, a series of images was collected. The images were processed to detect and localize each vehicle, and a license plate reader collocated with the sensor was used to provide a unique ID for the vehicle. Actual license plate numbers have been obfuscated by replacing with an arbitrary numerical ID for each vehicle. After localizing the vehicle in each image, the original RGB image was rotated, scaled, and shifted to produce a new RGB image of size 234x234 pixels such that the outermost two wheels are located at predetermined pixel locations in the image. In this way, all vehicle images are aligned to one another. This registration process occasionally results in a portion of certain vehicles being cutoff at the edges of the image. The dataset has been partitioned into two sets called training and validation. The two partitions no common vehicles, i.e., a vehicle present in one partition is guaranteed not to be present in the other. In this way, an algorithm can be validated against a set of new vehicles that were not seen during the training process. The training set contains 543,926 images from 64,440 vehicle passes representing 11,918 unique vehicles, while the validation set contains 92,320 images from 10,991 vehicle passes representing 2,045 unique vehicles. Vehicle images are organized by directories corresponding to unique vehicles. The file naming scheme is as follows: veh_{vehID}_tr_{passID}_{frameID}_{elevation}_{timeofday}.jpg where {vehID} is the vehicle ID (unique across the entire dataset), {passID} is an identifier for each tracked vehicle pass (unique across the entire dataset), {frameID} is the index of the frame within the given vehicle pass starting at 0, {elevation} is a two-letter string indicating whether the sensor was elevated (el) or at ground-level (gl), and {timeofday} is a two-letter string indicating whether the image was captured during daytime (dt) or nighttime (nt).

image↗

Capacitively Coupled LAPPDs with 2D Pixelated Readout Planes for Time of Flight and Ring Imaging Cherenkov Applications

Large Area Picosecond Photon Detectors (LAPPDs) are micro-channel plate based photosensors featuring hundreds of square centimeters of sensitive area in a single package and capable of providing timing resolution on the order of 50 ps for single photon detection. However, LAPPDs currently do not exist in finely pixelated 2D readout configurations which, in addition to ighresolution timing, would also provide high spatial resolution required for Ring Imaging CHerenkov (RICH) detectors. One of the recent LAPPD models (Gen II) provides the opportunity to overcome the lack of pixellation by coupling an external readout to the sealed detector itself. The readout plane in this case is a simple printed circuit board (PCB) that can be laid out in a custom application-specific way for 1D or 2D sensitive area pixellation. This allows for a much shorter readout-plane prototyping cycle and provides unprecedented flexibility in choosing an appropriate segmentation that can be optimized for any particular detector need in terms of pad size, orientation, and shape.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Operando detection of Li plating during fast charging of Li-ion batteries using incremental capacity analysis

A major challenge that limits fast charging of Li-ion batteries is lithium (Li) plating on the graphite electrode. Furthermore, it remains challenging to detect and diagnose Li plating in operando during charging. In this work, incremental capacity (IC) analysis is applied while charging graphite-NMC pouch cells over a range of rates from C/2 to 4C. Three-electrode pouch cell measurements and post-mortem SEM imaging was performed to demonstrate that the onset of Li plating is correlated with a specific IC peak. IC analysis was also applied to study the fast-charge performance of multi-layer pouch cells with 3-D anode architectures. The results demonstrate that: 1) IC curves have a characteristic peak that is an indicator of Li plating during fast charging, which grows in magnitude as charging rate increases; 2) the plating IC peak correlates with the voltage minimum of the graphite anode, indicating a transition from intercalation to plating; 3) the plating IC peak is sensitive to small amounts of Li plating; 4) IC analysis can be applied to study Li plating in novel cell architectures; 5) the plating IC peak evolves during extended fast-charge cycling, which is a result of reduced Li plating as the Li inventory decreases.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

A time-resolved, in-chamber x-ray pinhole imager for Z

We have commissioned a new time-resolved, x-ray imaging diagnostic for the Z facility. The primary intended application is for diagnosing the stagnation behavior of Magnetized Liner Inertial Fusion (MagLIF) and similar targets. We have a variety of imaging systems at Z, both time-integrated and time-resolved, that provide valuable x-ray imaging information, but no system at Z up to this time provides a combined high-resolution imaging with multi-frame time resolution; this new diagnostic, called TRICXI for Time Resolved In-Chamber X-ray Imager, is meant to provide time-resolved spatial imaging with high resolution. The multi-frame camera consists of a microchannel plate camera. A key component to achieving the design goals is to place the instrument inside the Z vacuum chamber within 2 m of the load, which necessitates a considerable amount of x-ray shielding as well as a specially designed, independent vacuum system. Here, a demonstration of the imaging capability for a series of MagLIF shots is presented. Predictions are given for resolution and relative image irradiance to guide experimenters in choosing the desired configuration for their experiments.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗